Even as the social media revolution promises rich possibilities for empowering citizens, it has also given birth to the genie of fake news, disinformation, misinformation and trolling that pollute the very idea of a participatory democracy.

Mar. 28.– Pilfering of personal data of 50 million Facebook users by the British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica and the manipulation of this data to sway the outcome of the last American presidential election and UK’s Brexit referendum received much global media attention last week. True to their instincts, India’s politicians used this opportunity to trade charges on leakage of Indian citizens’ private data for political campaigns.

Their fight took a different turn when it was discovered that several parties, including the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (United), have been clients of Cambridge Analytica. Access to wide personal data required for using Prime Minister’s NaMo app and charges of leakage of such data to third parties outside India further complicated the politics of social media’s data sharing in India.

Barcelona, Feb.22.– It’s clear that interest in digital cities is on the rise, and may soon become a mainstream focus for governments to improve life for citizens in increasingly urban, congested environments. Yet whilst nearly every city holds a 2020 digital strategy today, there is a disconnect between strategy and effective execution.

The initial vision of a ‘digital city’ originated from tech-driven companies pushing technology first, rather than putting citizens at the core of the design. For a digital city strategy to work in practice, citizens must be at the core.